Welcome to Germany! The TV here sucks. Apart from a couple of cool game shows, television here is mostly made up of bad reality shows, cheesy soap operas and badly dubbed American sitcoms. In my opinion, the poor quality of television is one of the biggest reasons why Germans are such active, friendly and social people. What they are not, is a nation of couch potatoes who spend their evenings in front of the TV. Regardless, sometimes we just want to plop down in front of the TV and soak up a small dose of comfort in the form of your favourite TV series or films. In this post I'll try to break down the entertainment options out there for us English speakers.
Basic TV
Television works like this in Germany. Everyone has access to the "Free TV" basic cable package. Don't let the name fool you. It's not free. Everyone has to pay the GEZ tax/fee to have access to the television, internet and phone networks. It costs about 17 euros a month. this fee is paid to the state and only grants you access. For internet and phone you have to then purchase a package from a service provider. Basic television however does not need to be purchased from a service provider. Provided you have a modern television with a built in digital receiver, you can access basic German television. Congratulations! You can now watch hours upon hours of German dubbed versions of The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons.
Premium TV
If you come from Canada or America you're probably wondering about premium packages and DVR receivers. Sky, Unity Media and Telekom are the biggest providers. They all have access to the same bundle of channels but Sky has a few of its own premium channels. Most of these premium channels can be switched to English mode so you can hear the original version (FOX, TNT, National Geographic, etc.).
Sky is also where you'll find all the top HBO programs and of course the German Bundesliga. You can purchase bundled packages with internet and phone through Unity Media or Telekom and add Sky as an add-on or just purchase all of your television directly through Sky. Keep in mind though that Sky does not offer high speed internet or telephone. They are just a cable TV company.
The prices compared to Canada and America are pretty reasonable. Back in Canada an average premium TV & internet bundle will run you $188 a month on average. Here you can get the same thing for around 90 euros a month. Most German families still think that is far too much to spend on TV.
Streaming Services
Welcome to the 21st century! Cable bundles or slowly dying out and being replaced by streaming services. It's no wonder. Streaming services like Netflix provide tons of content for a fraction of the price. On top of that, everything is in English!
Amazon Prime is also gaining lots of popularity but a lot of the older movies are only offered in German. I'm not sure if this is a licensing issue, but it would be nice to see them offer German and English versions. All of their original content however is offered in English.
Another streaming service that seems to be gaining traction is DAZN. It's been marketed as the Netflix for sports. They are quickly buying up the rights to show all sorts of leagues and sports. If you're a college football fan or a baseball fan or an NHL fan then this is definitely for you. Check their site for updates. They're adding new content fairly frequently.
Internet Grey Area
Proceed at your own risk. When it comes to illegal streaming or downloading you can find yourself in a lot of trouble real fast in Germany. Germany is not very liberal when it comes to internet freedom and they are staunch protectors of intellectual property. This is the reason why you can still buy physical CDs and DVDs here in Germany.
I have been personally burned by these laws. I was using BitTorrent when I first moved here. Not too long after, the man who's name was on the internet account got sued. He was not too pleased and I had to pay 1500 euros in damages. This was because I was uploading while I was downloading. This is something that can't be avoided with BitTorrent. After this fiasco, I decided to just stay on the right side of the law. After all, people put a lot of effort into creating their art. The least we can do is pay for it.
VPNs are another legal grey area. It's not really illegal but you are essentially lying about your location to gain access to content otherwise not available in Germany. I used to use a VPN service with my Netflix account but Netflix has since put measures in place to make it pretty much impossible to use a VPN. Personally I think it's something they used to turn a blind eye to until the movie studios started complaining. VPNs are not really worth using anymore.
As for illegal streaming, I haven't read about people getting sued for it yet. There are a lot of options out there. We've all streamed something from a shady website before. Personally I find it annoying and it reeks havoc on your computer. These sites are loaded with malware and viruses. A lot of people are using Kodi. If that's your thing then go for it. Just be warned. Germany is always looking to go after people for taking free stuff from the internet.
The Cinema
Nearly all of the films in all of the cinemas are dubbed in German. Makes sense. We are in Germany. Have no fear though. There is a market out there for Original Version films. OV for short. Your options might be a little more limited when it comes to showtimes and 3D options but it's nice to be able to see films in OV. As far as I know, the large cinema chain UCI doesn't show OV flims. Cinestar and Cinemaxx do however have a nice selection on OV films. They have locations all over Germany. Check out their sites for showtimes. Everything will be listed under 'Programm'.
So I hope you found this information useful. Hopefully now you'll be better equipped to navigate Germany's digital and entertainment landscape. If you have any questions just leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.
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